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Cuffed, detained, deported: What happens after an ICE arrest?
NEW YORK CITY (PIX11) – A day after a federal immigration officer fatally shot a woman in Minneapolis, New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams issued a warning to New Yorkers: “They are coming to our city.”
Speaking in Lower Manhattan on Thursday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem refused to say whether she will flood ICE agents into New York City. But she promised to use “every single tool” at the government’s disposal to enforce U.S. immigration laws.
New Yorkers have become familiar with the sights and sounds of an ICE arrest – from a chaotic raid on Canal Street to violent moments inside 26 Federal Plaza. But what happens in the minutes, weeks and months after these interactions?
Watch the video player in the article to see me discuss this story on PIX on Politics!
Which campaign promises are missing from the mayor’s preliminary budget?
NEW YORK CITY (PIX11) – Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s ambitious campaign left many wondering: “How will he pay for all this?”
Facing a massive budget crisis, there was little space for new programming in the city’s budget. Only 4% of the mayor’s preliminary budget for fiscal year 2027, released earlier this month, is dedicated to new programming. The rest fills in budget gaps left behind by Mayor Eric Adams, Mamdani said.
So what exactly has the mayor followed through on? PIX11 News reviewed many of the mayor’s campaign promises for their presence in the preliminary budget.
It’s not an end-all, be-all list. The mayor will deliver his executive budget in April. He’s already said it will include a marquee campaign promise, the Office of Community Safety, which is missing from his early budget proposal.
Trump admin is using a new tactic to deport asylum seekers
The Trump administration is deploying a new tool to deport asylum-seekers to countries they’ve never visited.
They’re called Asylum Cooperative Agreements, or Safe Third Countries, which allow the government to terminate an asylum application early and force an asylum-seeker to apply in another country, such as Uganda or Ecuador.
At 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan, asylum-seekers’ journeys in the U.S. are increasingly being cut short due to these agreements. The Department of Homeland Security’s lawyers recently began terminating almost 100% of asylum cases at 26 Federal Plaza, according to Suzanne Boswell, a volunteer court observer with the New Sanctuary Coalition.
“About two weeks ago, things started shifting,” Boswell told PIX11 News in a recent interview. “The danger was no longer quite only about ICE in the hallways. The danger was very specifically in the courtroom."
Election night in NY, NJ
I took a leading role in PIX11 News' election night coverage for New York City and New Jersey. While working in the field at Zohran Mamdani's election night party, I regularly updated our main liveblog. In the weeks leading up to the election, I prepared stories for the leading candidates to break as soon as the races were called. I generated over 400,000 pageviews on just my byline on Election Day.
Here are some of the stories:
Does Congress have the power to abolish ICE?
As tensions boil in Minneapolis and across the country, a growing coalition of Congress members is calling for an end to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
But is it within their power to completely dismantle ICE?
Since Congress creates government agencies, it has the sole power to eliminate them, according to Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law. ICE was created in 2003 by the Homeland Security Act, which reorganized the Department of Homeland Security.
Additionally, Congress holds the “power of the purse” – meaning it could strip ICE’s funding. New York Congressman Adriano Espaillat said this is where the process would start.
Watch the video player to see my interview with Rep. Adriano Espaillat.
Inside the dramatic, multi-million dollar race for NYC dog mayor
Everything was going smoothly in New York City’s honorary dog mayor election until Ziggy the Yorkie mix and Bertram the Pomeranian matched up.
Just before the polls closed, a “gigantic bomb of votes hit Twitter” for Bertram, a retired dog influencer known for his Paddington bear costume. Then, the voter fraud allegations came.
"I don't recognize the results of this election," one constituent wrote on Instagram.
It was not fraud but rather a “globally dispersed” online crypto community that had made Bertram the face of their new coin, giving him an unexpected boost in support. Bertram’s owner, Kathy Grayson, has no idea why.
My story was the first report on the crypto drama related to the election, which was ultimately picked up by the New York Times.
Mayor Adams charged with bribery: Inside the indictment
Federal investigators on Thursday outlined years of Eric Adams’ expensive bribes and “clumsy” coverups in the first-ever indictment of a sitting New York City mayor.
In a 57-page indictment unsealed Thursday, prosecutors charged the mayor with bribery, solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national and wire fraud.
Prosecutors accuse the mayor of accepting illegal campaign donations as early as his time as Brooklyn Borough President. Adams allegedly sought and knowingly accepted money from foreign donors, including Turkish government officials, prosecutors contend.
Adams has continuously maintained his innocence, and on Thursday reiterated he has no intention of resigning
This was one of multiple stories I wrote in the immediate aftermath of the charges. Written in collaboration with a reporter in the field, Mira Wassef.
Woman denied entry at JFK describes ‘nightmare’ stay at NJ ICE facility
Jane can only remember crying twice during her hours-long detention after being denied entry into the United States from Switzerland.
Once when she was chained to a chair at John F. Kennedy Airport after six hours of interrogation. The second time, when she realized she’d gotten her period inside Elizabeth Detention Center, a privately owned ICE facility criticized for poor conditions since it opened in the 1990s.
"The way I felt, I smelled, I looked – dehumanizing,” Jane told PIX11 News. Jane spoke on the condition of anonymity. “They treat us worse than animals.”
What was meant to be a birthday trip after a battle with cancer had quickly turned into a nightmare when Jane was denied entry into the United States and detained at the New Jersey facility.
Wegmans fish market is ‘confusingly similar’ to East Village sushi shop
A fish market owner sued Wegman’s in 2023 claiming the grocery store giant had ripped off its design and business model. I found the lawsuit using court records, interviewed the owner, and visited both businesses to get a sense of the similarity.
I was the first to report this story which was ultimately picked up by The New York Times, Grub Street, New York Post and more.
Men found dead in Newtown Creek after vanishing near the Brooklyn Mirage
Two 27-year-old men went missing from the same music venue in Brooklyn a month apart. Both were found dead in Newtown Creek.
I was the first to report this story, which captured national attention for weeks. My stories included exclusive interviews with family and friends, access to vigils and memorials, and continued interaction with authorities. Most recently, I wrote a reflective one year after the men went missing.
Another man found dead in Newtown Creek: ‘Damani loved life’
A family is heartbroken after their loved one was found dead in Newtown Creek last month, the circumstances mirroring two similar deaths last summer in East Williamsburg.
Damani Alexander, 30, went to a nearby venue, Knockdown Center, on July 28 before his body was found in the water of Newtown Creek two days later, according to his mother, Desiree Nicholson.
Little is known about Alexander’s final moments. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has not yet determined his cause of death, and police are still investigating how and when he ended up in the creek, according to the NYPD.
Changing the city, 7 minutes at a time
Rain fell over Brooklyn as dozens of locals crowded into Awesome Home — as they have thrice monthly for years — on a March evening to laugh, cry, sing, debate and chat. They call it “7 7.”
The idea is simple: seven performers get seven minutes in front of a microphone in venues across Prospect Lefferts Gardens on the 7th, 17th and 27th of every month.
Imagine it as a community board meeting, but there’s beer, it’s fun. It’s also one of the neighborhood's worst-kept, most beloved, secrets.
‘Bring Hugo home’: Locals fight for NYC business owners facing visa trouble
After many difficult years working toward a permanent visa, Hugo Pinto and his wife, Karah Rempe, were overjoyed when they set out from New York City to Honduras for his final interview.
Little did they know he’d end up stuck there, away from their children and the couple’s shared business, Dutch Baby, waiting in a bureaucratic middle ground.
Now, the timeline on Pinto’s case has been extended for at least another six months – and over 3,300 New Yorkers have stepped in to try to get their beloved neighbor back home.
She was shot outside her NYC school. A year later, her mom’s still fighting for justice
When a teenage girl found her sister bleeding outside their Williamsburg high school, their lives were forever changed – and it’s time for their school to “do the right thing,” the family’s lawyer, John Beatty, told PIX11 News on Thursday in an exclusive interview.
The teenager, a National Honor Society student, was an innocent bystander shot in the leg outside Williamsburg Charter High School in February 2023, according to Beatty, who recently filed a lawsuit against the school on behalf of the family. Since the shooting, the road to recovery has been difficult, the girls’ mother said.
Where has Sherita gone? A Brooklyn icon erased
A mysterious Bed-Stuy icon painted on an Atlantic Avenue billboard was recently covered up, renewing a decade-old question: Who is Sherita?
The “fabulous” pink dinosaur-looking figure once loomed over a tire shop at Classon Avenue on a billboard that read “Attention landlords, our fuel oil price is right. Come in now!” Her disappearance this week, much like the mystery of her origins, has perplexed hundreds of New Yorkers.
“As she moves on to the great oil rig in the sky… she will remain in our hearts,” local Mike McCabe, who made a short film inspired by the mysterious dinosaur years ago, told PIX11 News on Wednesday.
'Years Of Neglect,' Fire Spark Crown Heights Rent Strike: Tenants
Elana Rinsler woke up Feb. 7 like she had any other morning, but her bleary eyes quickly spotted danger: smoke billowing from her apartment's floor.
She grabbed her two dogs and ran.
Hours after firefighters put out the blaze that devastated her home of 12 years, Rinsler sat amid the wreckage and waited for someone from her building's management company, Hager Management, to even "pretend to care" about her well-being, she said.
She's still waiting. Hager's representatives sent her off with no financial support or guidance, she said.
"We literally were made homeless," Rinsler said. "It's been terrible, it's been a lot."
Documented LAPD Violence Against Reporters Triggers Investigation
Tina-Desiree Berg was looking for a better camera angle to film a nearby arrest at Friday's abortion rights demonstration when she was hit in the head by an officer, video from the scene shows. She grabbed a railing to break her fall when another officer came in and threw her to the ground.
“You’ve got to learn,” the Los Angeles police officer tells Berg after she stands back up to show him the big, bright yellow press badge that was already hanging around her neck.
She had made an effort to stay a safe distance from the arrest, staying mostly by a railing on the sidewalk.
“We’re trying to protect you,” he tells her as onlookers continue to scream, "she’s a journalist!"
Locals Fight To Save Brooklyn Church From Becoming Luxury Housing
Greenpoint locals are hedging their bets on a collective, community-based development model to save a beloved church that has overlooked McGolrick Park for over 100 years.
An impending $4.7 million sale could spell doom for Park Church on Russell Street near Nassau Avenue. Its owners petitioned the Attorney General's office in June to sell the property to a developer with aspirations of a luxury housing development, organizers said.
Now, organizers with CommonPlace are looking to create an even more enticing offer to buy the 115-year-old church with $5 million of crowdfunding to save the church's legacy.
‘It takes a village’: locals eye parks, school improvements in wake of budget cuts
New York City residents now have a chance to spend $1 million in city funds locally, and many have taken aim at parks and schools under the hum of contentious budget cuts that leaders say threaten the agencies’ operations.
Participatory budgeting ballots opened across 24 City Council districts on Saturday, allowing all residents over the age of 11 to vote on how $1 million should be spent in their neighborhoods.
“This is a way where our communities are making it very clear they care,” said City Council Member and Parks Chair Shekar Krishnan. “It is such an organic reflection of what we value as New Yorkers.”
Much-needed repairs for parks and schools dominate the districts’ ballots. Across just five of the participating ballots, 37 out of 44 projects are dedicated to schools and parks.